PHIL JAGIELKA is convinced Everton FC will banish any safety-first tactics and go back on the attack in this weekend’s Merseyside derby.

David Moyes adopted an unashamedly defensive formation for last weekend’s visit to Premier League high-fliers Manchester City.

Everton went into the game without a recognised striker in the starting line-up, and their approach was paying off before goals in the final quarter from substitutes Mario Balotelli and James Milner consigned the visitors to a 2-0 defeat.

Moyes’ negative tactics caused a ripple of consternation among supporters.

But Jagielka believes Everton will go for the jugular on Saturday.

“It’s still going to be hard against Liverpool, they’ve had a decent start to the season so we’re not pretending we’ll up against a Liverpool that is struggling,” said the England international.

“They have brought in a lot of good players and a lot of good quality. As much as we say we are looking forward to the derby, we aren’t expecting to automatically win it.

“But we will be trying our best to get three points, whereas against City it was more us looking for a draw and maybe nicking a goal.

“We changed things around a little bit for the City game, so hopefully we can go back to the way we have been for the Liverpool game and put up a performance and try to get a win. It’ll be nice to get back to that.”

Jagielka is confident Everton can bounce back from the Eastlands loss while extending an unbeaten four-match home run.

“People would have looked at the fixture list and thought we were entering a run of games where maybe we aren’t expected to get maximum points,” said the centre-back.

“There won’t need to be a reaction for the Liverpool game. It’s a good game for us to have after the City defeat. At home we have been doing okay.”

Tim Howard believes Everton’s greater collective experience of Merseyside derbies could work in their favour this weekend.

“If you play passionately for a long period of time you start to become part of the fabric of the club just like the fans are and the way the homegrown players are,” said Howard. “It’s not easy to do that and maybe we’re not even there yet but you start to feel it little by little.

“Everyone wants to know when the Liverpool game is, how quickly it comes in the season and whether it is at Anfield or at home. We’re up for it and it’ll be a good one.”